


Eden vs the Eternally Filthy Glass

by Burgie



Series: SSO Wild West AU [9]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/M, M/M, SSO Wild West AU, warning for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 05:04:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14687067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Eden is determined to clean that damn glass. Jack is concerned about his friend. Eden belongs to sso-eden-dawnvalley on tumblr, Jack belongs to UglyTwinkBoi, and the Wild West AU belongs to clightlee.





	Eden vs the Eternally Filthy Glass

Eden Dawnvalley couldn’t help but smile as she stood behind the bar in New Jorvik’s only saloon. This had been ‘home’ for as long as she could remember since she’d moved here. Initially, she’d spent a lot of time on the Moorland ranch. The Moorlands had needed someone trustworthy to work with the horses and young riders who came to their ranch to learn to ride, and Eden had fit the bill perfectly. But, as the popularity of the Moorland ranch had increased, so too had its number of employees, and soon, Eden had needed to find a new job in order to earn more money. It hadn’t helped at all that the money that she had earned had kept disappearing, but, well, at least that mystery had been solved now. Darn Willow. At least she was gone now though, and the money was back.

That brought Eden to here, working her final shift at Jack’s bar.

“Last call!” Eden hollered, leaning over the bar. One thing that was useful for both of her jobs was the ability to yell loudly, whether it be for rounding up cattle or horses or for yelling to be heard above the often-rowdy patrons at the bar. Tonight, they were even rowdier than usual, celebrating the liberation of their town from the grip of Dark Corps.

“it’s not gonna be the same without you, Eden,” said Jack, walking over to her. He was polishing the same glass that Eden had seen him cleaning many times now.

“I know,” said Eden. “I’d be lying if I said I’d miss it, though. I missed having my freedom, mostly.”

“Yeah, don’t we all?” said Jack with a roll of his eyes. “We’d all love to just laze around doing nothing but our partner all day, but that’s just not feasible.”

“Hey, I’ve worked my ass off here, I’ve earned a damn good break,” said Eden. It surprised her to realise that she’d miss this friendly banter. The back and forth, the witty banter, even the sometimes-barbed comments. The atmosphere, the dimness, even that weird stain on the bartop that nobody could clean off and Jack swore wasn’t Halli’s doing.

“Damn right, you have,” said Jack. “Well, even if nobody else does, I’ll miss you. Halli will too, even if she won’t admit it.” He looked down at his fox, who was currently snoozing against one of the kegs beneath the bar.

“You old softy,” said Eden with a smirk, nudging him with her elbow.

“Yeah, yeah,” said Jack. “Thanks for coming by to work this last shift. You didn’t have to, it was really just a suggestion.”

“Well, what can I say? Maybe I wanted to see if you’d put on a good shindig for my last day,” said Eden. “And you delivered.” She looked around at the bunting and other decorations that had been put up. There was even a live band, made up of some friends of the local doctor.

“Glad all that effort paid off,” said Jack. “Lisa’s friends are all over the country, it was a pain in the ass to track ‘em down.”

“I didn’t even know that the doc could sing,” said Eden. “Or sing well, for that matter.”

“Yeah, well, we all learned something,” said Jack. “By the way, you can take a few bottles of wine with you if you want. They’re from the Silverglade estate, which is apparently pretty good.”

“Holy crap, really?” said Eden, turning to her soon-to-be-ex-boss with a grin.

“Yeah, go for it,” said Jack, nodding. He chuckled as Eden hugged him with a happy squeal.

“Thank you!” said Eden, giving him one tight squeeze before pulling away.

“Is that wine any good?” asked Jack. “I’ve never tried it, never felt reason to.”

“Oh yeah,” said Eden, nodding. “The Silverglades didn’t get their reputation for nothing. They do damn good wine.”

“Then consider it your gift for years of loyal, hard work,” said Jack.

Eden and Jack worked side by side for the rest of the night, chatting and reminiscing while Halli either sniffed around the floor or slept somewhere. When at last Jack had to urge some of the patrons to leave (using a broom, of all things), Eden smiled at the scene. But her attention was taken away from the amusing scene by the sight of a particular glass sitting on the bartop where Jack had left it after polishing it all night. There was a mysterious stain on the glass, which Eden narrowed her eyes at.

“Hey, Jack,” said Eden as Jack walked back over.

“About fucking time,” said Jack, dragging a stool behind the bar and sinking down onto it with a groan. “Ah, that’s better. Yeah, Eden?”

“Do you actually clean that glass or do you just wipe it?” asked Eden.

“Oh, the Eternally Filthy Glass? Yeah, I clean it,” said Jack. “Or I try to. But no matter what I do, that stain just never pisses off. Or if it does, it comes back the second I turn my back on it.”

“Hmm,” said Eden. “Okay. Always wondered about that.”

“It’s pretty pointless to even try cleaning it, actually,” said Jack. “Believe me, I’ve tried everything- even licking the fucker. Nothing worked.”

“Well then, before I leave, there’s one thing I have to do,” said Eden. She snatched up the glass, narrowing her eyes at it. “Clean this fucker.”

“Alright, your funeral,” said Jack with a shrug, pouring himself a glass of water and sitting down again to drink it. “Or your room at the insane asylum.”

“Ha ha,” said Eden with a roll of her eyes. Snatching up the glass, she headed into the kitchen. She’d been working all night, but if she didn’t take care of this now, it was going to drive her insane. She had a feeling that even if she went home to sleep, she’d wake up in the middle of the night with the dire need to clean the thing. So she didn’t even try.

In the kitchen, Eden poured the hottest water she could find into the glass, along with enough dish soap to clean even the filthiest baking pan. Ignoring the hot water scorching her skin, Eden grabbed a scourer and scrubbed at the stain vigorously. The water foamed up to her elbows, obscuring her vision, flecks of foam landing in her hair. She looked like a madwoman as she scrubbed.

At last, Eden lifted the glass out of the water. And saw the stain. Eden screamed, and from outside, she could hear Jack laughing.

Under the sink, there was a bottle brush. Eden grabbed it in one hand and, with the other, filled the glass with scorching hot, soapy water. Eden pushed the bottle brush in and out vigorously, splattering her face and neck with hot water and foam and violently ignoring the inappropriate imagery. Jack snickered as he wandered into the kitchen, Halli at his heels looking up curiously at Eden.

“Say anything and I’ll use your penis instead,” Eden snapped at him, Jack only smirked.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” said Jack. Eden didn’t buy the innocent act for one second.

“You’ve had this glass for how long now? And you still haven’t cleaned it,” said Eden. “You haven’t even tried.”

“In my defence,” said Jack, “it fits the image of the barkeep to be eternally polishing a glass.”

“And having it sitting there filthy all that time didn’t, I dunno, drive you up a wall?” asked Eden.

“Nope,” said Jack. “Maybe I’m already crazy, who knows?”

“Well, I can’t stand it any longer,” said Eden. “I’ll clean this glass or die trying.”

“Don’t kill yourself over that, Eden, it’s not worth it,” said Jack.

“Listen, Wolfwatcher,” said Eden, pointing the glass at him. Water and foam dripped onto the floor. “I don’t know if it’s the long day getting to me or just my mind going crazy at finally being free and finding out why my money went missing, but this is my new goal now.”

“Can’t you just have a normal goal like everyone else?” asked Jack, sitting on the kitchen counter. Halli jumped up beside him. “Buy a horse, buy a house, start a family, that sort of stuff. I know that Alonso will probably be eager to start a family.”

“Those are future goals,” said Eden, getting back to attempting to clean the glass with a cloth this time. “My goal for right now is to clean this glass.”

“How much alcohol did you ‘sample’ tonight?” asked Jack.

“I was celebrating,” said Eden. “Speaking of, barkeep, pour me a whisky. Or scotch. Or something. I need something to get me through this.”

“Listen, I wouldn’t be a good barkeep if I kept serving obviously-drunk patrons,” said Jack, pouring Eden a glass of water and handing it to her. Eden drank the water, then looked between the two glasses.

“See, look at this glass,” said Eden, holding the two glasses side by side. “It’s perfectly clean with only a slight bit of oil from my lips. Oh, but what’s this?” Eden wiped the rim of her glass with a cloth, leaving it clean. She gasped. “What do you know? The glass is clean! Meanwhile, if I try it on you…” She rubbed the cloth over the stain, gently at first, and then more vigorously. “You insist on being stubborn! Why can’t you be like your brethren, stupid glass?” She hefted the Eternally Filthy Glass into the air, fully intent on throwing it, but then she lowered it down, her shoulders shaking.

“I’m going to ask again,” said Jack. “How much did you have to drink tonight?”

“It’s okay,” Eden whispered to the glass, clearly caught up in her own head. “We all have stains that can’t be removed. Stains of our past. Stains of what just happened here recently. Dark Corps left a stain on our town. On the Rangers. On Alonso. My dear, sweet Alonso.” She held the glass to her chest, tears in her eyes. Jack blinked. He wanted to fetch Ydris or maybe the doctor (if she wasn’t too busy), but he didn’t want to leave Eden alone when she was in this state.

Eden didn’t notice when Ydris walked in, though it was hard not to notice the towering form of the travelling snake oil salesman.

“What’s going on?” asked Ydris, speaking to Jack as he leaned against the counter that Jack was sitting on.

“I think Eden’s lost it,” said Jack. “Her mind finally snapped from all the stress she was under.”

“Ah,” said Ydris. “Unfortunate. Perhaps she needs someone to talk to.”

“Well, it’s partly the stress and partly the glass,” said Jack.

“Oh, you mean… that glass?” asked Ydris, pointing to the stained glass that Eden was currently cradling.

“Yeah, that one,” said Jack with a nod. “The Eternally Filthy Glass. I can’t ever manage to get the fucker clean.”

“Oh,” said Ydris. He sounded guilty. Jack looked at him.

“What did you do?” asked Jack, his voice flat.

“Well,” said Ydris, tapping his fingers together. “When I started out in my snake oil business, I was testing out some remedies, you see. And, do you remember that day when I helped out in the kitchen here?”

“Oh my god,” said Jack, covering his face with his hands. “Oh my god.”

“Well, on the plus side, at least now I know that that particular mixture will not, in fact, clean stains,” said Ydris. “It makes them permanent.” Jack groaned into his hands, shaking his head.

“You’re lucky I love you,” said Jack. He looked up at Eden. “But what are we going to do about her?”

“Well, I have an idea,” said Ydris.

Alonso didn’t take long to get to the bar after Ydris went to fetch him. He was probably worried about his girlfriend, who was still weeping with the stained glass in her hands.

“Eden?” said Alonso softly, crouching down beside where she sat on the floor. Eden looked up at him with teary eyes. “Do you wanna go home?”

“I can’t get the stain out,” said Eden, her voice tiny and broken. “I tried everything.”

“I know,” said Alonso, kissing the side of her head. “But it’ll be okay. Let’s just go home, hey?”

“No,” said Eden, shaking her head. “I have to get it clean.”

“You won’t get it clean,” said Ydris. He shrank back when Eden looked up at him. “Because I… used one of my mixtures on it and now the stain is permanent.”

“Oh,” said Eden softly. She slowly got to her feet, placing the glass on the counter. Alonso supported her with his arm around her waist. “It’s a metaphor for New Jorvik now.”

“Yes,” said Alonso, nodding. Eden closed her eyes, letting out a sigh.

“Let’s go home,” said Eden, leaning her head on Alonso’s shoulder. Alonso smiled gently at her.

Ydris still looked guilty as the two left.

“I sent that girl mad,” said Ydris.

“Hey, it’s okay,” said Jack. “She’s right, it’s a metaphor for New Jorvik now- stained, but we just have to accept that.”

“I suppose,” said Ydris.

“Besides, she was drunk,” said Jack. “She’ll sober up by morning or afternoon at the latest, and she’ll be fine.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Ydris.


End file.
